On March 24, a unique archive of photographs of the Beatles will go on sale and is expected to fetch at least $350,000 at auction. Photographer Mike Mitchell was just 18 when he shot the Beatles’ first US concert in 1964, and the 413 negatives with full copyright are available to purchase. Mike’s story of how the photographs came about is compelling.

“I was in a point in my life where I was learning that photography could take me anywhere,” explains Mike, more than 50 years later. Because of the equipment that he had available, Mike shot in black and white without flash and used only available light.

Photographs courtesy of Mike Mitchell and Omega Auctions

Coming two days after The Beatles legendary appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Mitchell also attended the press conference before the gig at the Washington Coliseum, before photographing them again a month later at the Baltimore Civic Center. With virtually no restrictions, Mitchell shot with the intention of creating portraits rather than merely documenting the events and was able to move freely about the stage, producing an intimate encounter with a group that was bringing something completely different to popular culture.

In 2011, Mitchell produced 46 unique prints, each embedded with a tiny heart-shaped watermark, sold at auction by Christie’s in London. The images were expected to fetch $100,000 but ended up selling for more than three times that amount. Seven years later, Mitchell has decided to sell the complete archive: 413 negatives, the 46 digitally-restored high resolution images, 10 other scans not used for the 2011 prints, and scans of contacts sheets. Mitchell’s archive sat untouched in his basement for decades before he decided to explore their value. One of the iconic images from the collection was so underexposed that it was only through scanning and digital restoration that a viable print was possible. In 2011, estimated at $3,000, the 16×16.25-inch gelatin silver print, signed and numbered 1/1, sold for $68,500.

The images give a remarkable insight into the era, offering a glimpse into the energy that the Beatles brought with them and the palpable optimism of the 1960s. Despite this, one of the magazines that published Mitchell’s photographs didn’t believe the hype and produced a cynical article about the Beatles that saw them as nothing more than a fad. A little jaded, Mitchell says that he then put the negatives into storage inside a box labeled “Beedles” where they remained untouched for almost 50 years.

The archive will go on sale at Omega Auctions (U.K.) on Saturday March 24.

Images courtesy of Mike Mitchell and Omega Auctions. As the copyright of these photographs is being sold, the images illustrating this article will be removed on March 24.

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=111310City boy’s take on Liverpool ladshttp://www.mccartney.com/?p=11126
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11126#respondThu, 15 Mar 2018 19:29:59 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11126Calcutta: The Beatles had landed in India in 1968 in Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Rishikesh ashram from the psychedelic zone of their fame, in a haze of drugs, looking for a

Calcutta: The Beatles had landed in India in 1968 in Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Rishikesh ashram from the psychedelic zone of their fame, in a haze of drugs, looking for a spiritual fix and also to make new music.

One outcome of their visit was the allegations against the Maharishi. Another, their break-up, which followed soon after their return.

In the 50th year of their visit comes Ajoy Bose’s Across the Universe: The Beatles in India, a kind but clear-eyed account of the group’s passage to India. “It is a paradox that the Beatles arrived in India to discover ancient wisdom when we were looking at them as figures of modernity,” Bose said before the launch of his book at Dalhousie Institute in the city on Monday. He was in conversation with singer Usha Utthup and Centre for Studies in Social Sciences chairman Jawhar Sircar. Utthup entertained the audience with a robust rendition of Beatles numbers.

A senior journalist from Delhi, Bose, originally from Calcutta, said he grabbed the offer from Penguin-Random House to write the book on the Beatles, for the group was not just about music. They had spelt rebellion. The length of young Bose’s hair, inspired by the world’s most famous pop group then, was strongly disapproved by his father.

The Beatles’ India trip is well-documented, said Bose, often in their own words. When the Beatles came here, they were still very young, vulnerable, at the height of their fame and trying to cope with the death of their manager, Brian Epsetin, who had been like a father. And there was the drug problem.

Author Ajoy Bose at the launch of the book.
Picture by Sanat Kr Sinha

John Lennon was the most tormented. “He was deepest into the hardest drugs.” Plus there was personal turmoil. His wife Cynthia was at the ashram, as were the partners of the other Beatles, but Yoko Ono was writing him letters.

At the Maharishi ashram, all the four Beatles had different trips. Some of them must have had their minds blown. “Maybe this was the first time they were thinking of themselves as individuals.” Ringo Starr left first, after two weeks, because of a stomach condition, Paul McCartney after one-and-a-half months. Then a friend of the Beatles called “Magic Alex” turned up, and so did the allegations against the Maharishi of sexually molesting white women, and at the end of two-and-a-half months, John left with George Harrison in a huff. John was perhaps already thinking of himself as a former Beatle.

Back home, the Beatles wrote the song Sexy Sadie about the Maharishi, which was released in a gentler version. By 1970, the group broke up.

But India had not happened suddenly to the Beatles. There had been signs. During the shooting of the film Help! (1965), which featured a wacky eight-armed Indian goddess, George had discovered a passion for the sitar within himself. Then he discovered Ravi Shankar. George’s wife Patty had introduced the Beatles to the Maharishi in London.

George was influenced most by India: he considered himself a Hindu.

Patty, George and some others later said the charges against the Maharishi were baseless.

In all this talk of scandal and drugs, what gets obscured is the music, Bose said. “At the ashram they wrote about 30 to 40 songs, including Ob La Di Ob La Da and Back in the USSR, most of which got into The White Album’and some into Abbey Road.”

The most obvious India songs, however, Norwegian Wood and Across the Universe, were written before the Beatles dreamt of coming to India.

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=111260Beatles photobomb: Iconic photo hides hilarious secrethttp://www.mccartney.com/?p=11122
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11122#respondThu, 15 Mar 2018 19:23:13 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11122THE Beatles are one of the most recognised bands of all time. You would be hard pressed to find someone who hadn’t heard of them or didn’t know at least

THE Beatles are one of the most recognised bands of all time. You would be hard pressed to find someone who hadn’t heard of them or didn’t know at least one of their songs. Their Abbey Road album cover is probably the image that comes to mind when most people think of the band and it turns out this iconic picture may also hold the best photo bomb of all time.Die hard fans were able to pick out a number of small details that may have gone unnoticed in a less-famous shot, like Paul McCartney not wearing any shoes, the VW Beetle parked on the street with the license plate LMW 281F and, perhaps most mysterious, the shadowed man standing in the background. Once this detail came to light a number of people came forward claiming they were the mystery man in the photo.Who is this mystery photo bomber? Who is this mystery photo bomber? It is difficult to say with complete certainty who we should be applauding for pulling off the world’s best photo bomb, but most people believe it was an American tourist named Paul Cole.

Mr Cole was tracked down by reporters years after the release of the Abbey Road album, revealing that he wound up in the background of the shoot by complete chance.In a 2004 interview with the Daily Mirror, Mr Cole said he was standing on the street waiting for his wife to finish exploring a museum.“‘I’ve seen enough museums. I’ll just stay out here and see what’s going on outside’,” he recalled telling her.“I like to just start talking with people. I walked out, and that cop was sitting there in that police car. I just started carrying on a conversation with him.”Paul Cole pictured in the background of the cover photo of the Beatle’s Abbey Road album. The band had hired a policeman to block traffic while they completed the photo shoot, with the whole thing taking roughly 10 minutes, according to the photographer Iain Macmillan.“I remember we hired a policeman to hold up traffic while I was up on the ladder taking the pictures,” Mr Macmillan told the Guardian .“I took a couple of shots of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road one way. We let some of the traffic go by and then they walked across the road the other way, and I took a few more shots.”He said the photo that was eventually chosen was number five of six, the only one that had their legs in a perfect ‘V’ formation.The photo bomber can also be seen in the background of the other photos from the shoot.The photo bomber can also be seen in the background of the other photos from the shoot. With all the planning that went into the photo the idea that Mr Cole just stumbled into the back ground is amazing.“I just happened to look up, and I saw those guys walking across the street like a line of ducks,” Mr Cole said.“A bunch of kooks, I called them, because they were rather radical-looking at that time. You didn’t walk around in London barefoot.”What is almost as astonishing is Mr Cole, aka photo bombing professional, had no idea who they were until six months later when he was back home in America.Mr Cole said he recognised the sports jacket and new glasses he was wearing in the photo.Mr Cole said he recognised the sports jacket and new glasses he was wearing in the photo.Source:Getty Images“My wife used to play the organ and a couple wanted her to play a song off the album at their wedding,” he said.“I saw the album and I recognised myself right away. I had a new sports jacket on and I’d just bought new shell-rimmed glasses. I said to my children, ‘get a magnifying glass out and you’ll see me’.”Ironically, Mr Cole said he has never even listened to the album and “couldn’t name a single song”. He died in 2008 aged 98 and there is still speculation around whether he really was the “mystery man” in the famous photo. But it is pretty safe to say, whoever it is, it is going to be hard to top that photo bomb.

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=111220Teenager’s rare Beatles photos of first US tour expected to sell for £250,000 – Independent.iehttp://www.mccartney.com/?p=11108
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11108#respondMon, 12 Mar 2018 20:05:10 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=111081 Paul McCartney and John Lennon in one of a series of shots of The Beatles’ first US concert tour (Mike Mitchell/Omega Auctions) A teenage photographer’s shots of The Beatles’

1Paul McCartney and John Lennon in one of a series of shots of The Beatles’ first US concert tour (Mike Mitchell/Omega Auctions)

A teenage photographer’s shots of The Beatles’ first US concerts are expected to sell for £250,000 at auction.

Mike Mitchell, just 18 at the time, snapped hundreds of never before seen photographs of the band’s performances at the Washington Coliseum and the Baltimore Civic Centre in 1964.

He also attended a press conference ahead of the Washington performance – their first in the US – and the band’s arrival at Union Station.

(Mike Mitchell/Omega Auctions)

One shot, taken from behind, shows the back of each of the fab four’s heads other than John Lennon who is turned to the side talking to his bandmates.

The negatives, taken only with ambient light since Mitchell had no flash, sat for decades in his basement until they were fully realised as luminous records with the emergence of digital technology.

The complete archive is made up of more than 400 negatives from the two concerts – 46 of which were seen for the first time in 2011 when they were digitally restored as high quality prints and sold at a Christie’s auction in New York for an accumulated 362,000 US dollars (£224,000).

(Mike Mitchell/Omega Auctions)

The entire collection – including the negatives and copyright of the those sold in New York – are to be unveiled and sold at a Beatles auction in Merseyside later this month.

Apart from the 46 images used in 2011, the remainder have never been seen.

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=111080Beatles Fair Lands Original Beatles Drummer Pete Best – NBC 7 San Diegohttp://www.mccartney.com/?p=11094
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11094#respondSun, 11 Mar 2018 17:55:58 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11094You might only know the Beatles as John, Paul, George and Ringo, but before there was a Starr, there was a Best. Often called the fifth Beatle, Pete Best was

You might only know the Beatles as John, Paul, George and Ringo, but before there was a Starr, there was a Best. Often called the fifth Beatle, Pete Best was a member of the Fab Four just when Beatlemania was becoming a thing between 1960 and 1962.

Once the band — with the help of manager Brian Epstein — decided to replace Best with Starr, Beatles fans were outraged, chanting, “Pete forever, Ringo never!” And in their defense, Best is definitely still the best-looking out of the mop-top crew.

So, what’s he up to now? On March 30-31, he and his brother Roag Best will be performing, answering questions and signing autographs at Queen Bee’s (3925 Ohio Street) for the San Diego Beatles Fair.

I caught up with Pete over email this week to see how he felt about still being considered a Beatle post-Ringo.

“I have my style and Ringo has his. My style was christened the ‘Atom Beat.’ I can’t remember Ringo’s style getting a name. Maybe it did and I don’t know,” he said.

“1. John 2. Paul 3. George 4. Stuart [Sutcliffe, original Beatles bassist] 5. Pete. Yes, that’s what I was and part of who I am. I enjoy being me,” he added.

At the Beatles Fair, Pete will be backed by local band the Falling Doves, which is usually fronted by Chris Leyva, who is responsible for turning this English dream into a Californian reality.

“I’m flying out on this occasion specifically for the San Diego Beatles Fair,” Pete said.

“Chris Leyva of the Falling Doves contacted my brother Roag to discuss some business. I believe Roag guested on drums for them in Liverpool. They became friends. From there, we all hooked up in LA and discussed the San Diego Beatles Fair. Chris asked if I’d like to do it. And guess what? I’m doing it,” he added.

The fair, which happens each year around this time, will also feature tribute bands Ringer Star, the Baja Bugs (with Hector Penalosa of the Zeros) and a performance of John, Paul and George’s solo-era songs from the band True Stories. What else can you expect?

“[Fans] can expect to have a great time. See a fun show. Share some warmth and love. Knowing what to expect, if I wasn’t on the show, I’d go to it myself,” Pete said.

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=110940Keith Richards: ‘The Rolling Stones owe our success to The Beatles’http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11091
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11091#respondSun, 11 Mar 2018 17:53:03 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11091The rock veteran has previously been outspoken in his lack of regard for the Fab Four’s music, criticising their live performance and he even famously called their iconic 1967 album

The rock veteran has previously been outspoken in his lack of regard for the Fab Four’s music, criticising their live performance and he even famously called their iconic 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band a, “mishmash of rubbish”.
However, the 74-year-old has now confessed that without The Beatles making it big in America in the mid-1960s, the Stones wouldn’t have become the phenomenon they are today.
“There’s no getting away from it ,” he told The Sun newspaper. ”Without The Beatles, I doubt there’d have been The Rolling Stones as such. They had that wonderful all-round appeal, something we certainly weren’t working on.
“We didn’t have to put up with being the Mop Tops or the Fab Four. Before The Beatles, hardly any British acts had broken America but they opened the door and I guess we kicked it in,” he added.
The Beatles split up in 1970 and Keith said that he puts their early demise down to the scrutiny they were under.
“They got off the bus just before it really got moving, you know,” explained Richards. “The pressure they were under being The Beatles is maybe one of the reasons why we’re still around.”
The Rolling Stones recently announced that this summer they will perform in their native U.K. for the first time in five years, and Keith revealed they were also ready to record new music.
“We’re working on it right now, old boy!” he told The Sun’s reporter. “I’m in the studio and I’m waiting for Mick to turn up. We’re doing a few days knocking some songs around and playing about, so work is in progress as I speak.”

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=110910Got some old band T-shirts at home? You might be quids in … | Music | The Guardianhttp://www.mccartney.com/?p=11086
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11086#respondSun, 11 Mar 2018 17:49:17 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11086They may be tatty, beer-stained and full of holes, but band T-shirts from gigs enjoyed decades ago could be a nice little earner. A Led Zeppelin T-shirt from their 1979

They may be tatty, beer-stained and full of holes, but band T-shirts from gigs enjoyed decades ago could be a nice little earner.

A Led Zeppelin T-shirt from their 1979 Knebworth gig, issued in lieu of that rarest of commodities, a backstage pass, is thought to be the most expensive ever sold. An anonymous Australian stumped up $10,000 for it in 2011, a tidy return given that the seller picked it up for $123.

A growing memorabilia market fuelled by nostalgia and aided by a new wave of young musicians paying tribute to their influences means band T-shirts command sky-high prices. Vintage T-shirt website Defunkd is listing a limited edition Run DMC shirt celebrating the rap group’s partnership with Adidas for $13,000.

Defunkd founder James Applegarth says nostalgia is a key factor, with music fans seeking a tangible link to memories that are growing hazier. “If people wore the T-shirt back in the day, they want to get it back,” he says. “Celebrities are getting into the mix, like Justin Bieber wearing Nirvana shirts. Then there’s just straight-up collectors. They won’t even wear it, they’ll just stash it away.”

One rung below the more eye-catching sales, less rare items trade for good money too. That should give veteran gig-goers hope that they might have something worth a few bob stashed in their attic.

Many music fans never imagined the gear they wore to show loyalty to favourite acts would one day be worth money, according to Howard Cohen, owner of The Beatles Store in London.

“Nobody really kept them at the time, there just wasn’t the memorabilia market that there is now,” he said. “I had a lot of the old Sex Pistols T-shirts. I had about six of them and I’ve seen them go for £500 each.”

On Etsy, the online marketplace, you can find obscure items commanding hefty price tags, such as a 1993 T-shirt dedicated to English psychedelic distortionists Spacemen 3, available to surviving members of their cult following for £599.

For better known acts the prices rise, particularly when there is a decent story to go with the garment. The Beatles’ North American release Yesterday and Today attracted controversy due to the album cover, which features the group in butchers’ outfits, covered in pieces of meat and the body parts of decapitated baby dolls.

The artwork was reportedly described by Paul McCartney as the band’s comment on the Vietnam war. But the album cover drew complaints in the US and was swiftly recalled. Etsy had two original T-shirts, at £2,238 and £1,679, on its website last night. It also had a T-shirt produced for a planned 1980 tour by Wings, which unravelled when, upon his arrival in Japan, Paul McCartney was discovered to be carrying eight ounces of marijuana. A short spell in prison followed. The gig dates did not. The T-shirt was up for sale at £2,621 despite, in the seller’s admirably honest description, some “discolouration under the armpits”.

Defunkd, which only sells shirts older than 15 years, offers an appraisal service for anyone who thinks they’ve got a rarity on their hands. In its own words: “What it’s listed for is not usually what it’s worth, so call off your plans for early retirement.”

You may know Neil Innes from his group Bonzo Dog Band (Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band before that), his work with Monty Python, and the related Beatles parody The Rutles. He’s in the NYC area currently for this weekend’s The Fest for Beatles Fans in Jersey City, and he’s got a couple other shows where he’ll perform songs from throughout his career. He’ll play NYC’s The Cutting Room on Tuesday, March 13 (tickets) and Berlin, NJ’s The Vault on Wednesday, March 14 (tickets).Neil will also be on a UK tour in May. All dates, plus a few videos from his various projects, below.

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=110780Bravo Developing Limited Series Biopic on Beatles Manager Brian Epsteinhttp://www.mccartney.com/?p=11075
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11075#respondSat, 10 Mar 2018 17:18:24 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11075The Liverpudlian who put the Beatles in suits, landed them a record deal with Parlophone, and brought to them to “The Ed Sullivan Show” is getting the biopic treatment from

The Liverpudlian who put the Beatles in suits, landed them a record deal with Parlophone, and brought to them to “The Ed Sullivan Show” is getting the biopic treatment from Bravo.

Bravo is developing a limited series based on the life of Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager who helped steer them to “the toppermost of the poppermost” from the early 1960s until his death of a drug overdose in August 1967 at the age of 32.

Produced by Universal Cable Productions and Sonar Entertainment, the project is based on “The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story,” the Dark Horse Comics graphic novel penned by Vivek J. Tiwary with art by Andrew C. Robinson and Kyle Baker. Tiwary will pen the series adaptation and serve as executive producer along with Leopoldo Gout. Bravo said the project has secured access to the Lennon-McCartney song catalog for use in the series.

Epstein is an enigmatic figure in the history of the legendary band. He struggled with internal and external demons and discrimination as a Jewish, closeted gay man living at a time when homosexuality was a felony in Britain.

Epstein famously became interested in the local Liverpool band when patrons of his family’s music store began asking for a recording of “My Bonnie” that the Beatles cut with singer Tony Sheridan during one of the band’s stints playing clubs in Hamburg. As the legend goes, Epstein went to see four leather-clad lads — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best (before Ringo Starr took over on drums) — at Liverpool’s Cavern Club and was impressed by their sound and the crowd’s enthusiasm. Without any prior experience in artist management, Epstein signed the band.

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History has judged Epstein kindly for ignoring the assertion of a London record company executive that “groups with guitars are on the way out” while he was shopping a Beatles demo reel to land a recording contract. He finally got his “yes” from producer George Martin of EMI’s Parlophone imprint in 1962. Within months, Beatlemania ensued.

Epstein published a memoir, “A Cellarful of Noise,” in 1964. But his role as manager diminished after the band opted to end its grueling schedule of concert tours in 1966. By many historical accounts, Epstein was depressed at the time of his death and there has long been speculation that the overdose was not accidental. His death came about two months after the release of the Beatles’ landmark album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

]]>http://www.mccartney.com/?feed=rss2&p=110750Sgt. Pepper Jukebox – The Beatleshttp://www.mccartney.com/?p=11072
http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11072#respondThu, 08 Mar 2018 17:25:36 +0000http://www.mccartney.com/?p=11072This item is on pre-order and will be ready to ship around March 25. A carrier will reach out to arrange delivery and setup of this item. An adult (18+) must be available

This item is on pre-order and will be ready to ship around March 25.A carrier will reach out to arrange delivery and setup of this item. An adult (18+) must be available to sign for this.

IN HONOR OF THE FIFTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEATLES 1967 HIT ALBUM, THE SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND VINYL JUKEBOX IS COMING SOON. ONLY BEING MADE TO ORDER FOR TWO YEARS. BE ONE OF THE FIRST AND FEW TO HAVE THIS AMAZING HAND-CRAFTED ITEM!

THE JUKEBOX HOLDS SEVENTY 7″ RECORDS, FEATURING ARTWORK FROM THE ICONIC SGT. PEPPER’S ALBUM COVER, AND INCORPORATES BLUETOOTH CAPABILITY TO STREAM DIGITAL MUSIC FROM ANY COMPATIBLE DEVICE.